Food Musings

Crunchy  Sweet  Spicy 

This salad packs the textures and flavors you love in one dish!

Recently the Kingsburg Crayfish Festival contacted me to do a live demo using a Crayfish recipe and a side.  I have been researching and experimenting for the past few weeks and believe I’ve come up with the perfect side to a Crayfish dish or any other seafood meal. 

Any social event in Louisiana is most definitely going to be centered on a Crawfish Boil (also called crayfish, crawdads, mudbugs, or “little lake lobsters”).  These  seafood meals are served with mounds of boiled potatoes, onions and corn dumped right on top of them.  I decided to go for a different take on the tradition by preparing an easy to make Potato and Corn Salad.

The Corn and Potato salad is a compilation of many I researched and I’ve really found it to be the most delicious.  You should insure that you dice the potatoes very small and don’t boil them too long as they will continue to cook as you drain them.  Test them for doneness and take them out before you think they’re perfect.

The corn is really my favorite.  The Trader Joes brand is inexpensive but sweet and crunchy.  Your guests will never suspect that they are dining on canned corn, they’ll think you prepared it fresh for them!

Potato and Corn Salad

• 1 ½ lb large red potatoes, scrubbed and diced small
• 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar plus 4 tablespoons, divided
• 2 large peppers – 1 red and 1 orange, diced small
• 2 cans Trader Joes corn, drained
• ½ medium red onion diced
• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon chipotle minced to a paste* or 1 tablespoon horseradish or combine ½ of both
• Green part of 5 scallions, sliced
• Salt to taste

Boil the potatoes, drain, mix with 2 TB vinegar, and cool.  In a large bowl, toss with the peppers, corn and onion.

In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 4 TB vinegar, mayo and chipotle or horseradish.  Stir mixture into potatoes and other vegetables.  Salt to taste.  Mix in ½ of the scallions and sprinkle the rest on top of the salad.